Malegaon is a small town in Maharashtra known for its unique film production. No less than Hollywood. Due to the prevailing tensions in society, Hindus and Muslims live on the other two sides of the city, separated by a river. Although Muslims are mainly involved in the creation of films, entertainment in the form of video theaters is available to everyone, regardless of caste. While old orthodox Muslims consider watching a movie a sin, it is amusing to see these young visitors to Malegaon’s cinema enter a video theater that could have given victory to hundreds of crazed bulls left to be killed. No wonder even the gatekeepers are afraid to open the door for them. It’s an incendiary passion. A passion to watch movies and make them. Where dreams are never inferior to big budgets. This is Hollywood.
Sheikh Nasir is the Ramesh Sippy of Malegaon. And to be Richard Donner. After his grand opus Malegaon Ka Sholay and Shaan, he craves Hollywood because he adores its masterful style of angles, lighting, and also that was intact in Malegaon. In his opinion, comedy has an eternal soul. And that’s why he loves making parody movies, one of which is his upcoming film Malegaon Ka Superman. But this time he aims to be technically more robust and advanced. He needs to use Chroma (read Karoma) to shoot a flying Superman. And you root for him when he succeeds in his attempt.
“What I do is called editing,” Nasir realizes after learning about it from newspaper ads for Bollywood movies. “Why do Bollywood films need so many people to make one movie? How do they connect with a movie that only the director sees?” Nasir speaks with passion. Yes, he shoots the whole movie himself. He is the cameraman, the editor, and the director himself.
Farogh Jafri is their scriptwriter with his Urdu language and perfect diction (believe me, I was stunned to see him tearing apart a pseudo-journalist for his misuse of language, later shown in the press). In this documentary, he made a very strong point that deserves to be applauded: “Whether it’s a movie as grandiose as Titanic or as cheap as Malegaon Ka Superman, the real pain is experienced by the writer because he is the only one who lives with the characters. Only 20% of the writer’s imagination finds its way into the movie, the other 80% stays with him, like a pain that no amount of money can compensate for.”
Faiza Ahmad Khan’s documentary perfectly depicts a parallel kind of filmmaking around the making of Malegaon Ka Superman, which is so fascinating that you will forget you are watching a documentary. And there you will learn how ordinary-looking men working on handlooms burn a fiery passion to make a living and pursue their hobbies at the same time. Indeed, they are the Supermen of Malegaon.